In these next 3 sessions, we will learn about the first core value of “BE”, and how it connects to our love for God. “Loving God” is focused on our vertical relationship between man and God. In this section, we are going to be learning about God’s feelings, desires, and expectations for us, and how these truths should encourage and develop our personal relationship with Him.
Our mission at Neighborhood Church is to “love God and our neighbors together.” This is how this mission informs our 3 core values of BE, BLESS, and BELONG.
“Loving God” We desire to BE God’s satisfied children, love Him, and glorify Him.
“and our neighbors” We desire to BLESS others where we live, work and play.
“together” We BELONG to a welcoming spiritual family.
As we grow in our relationship to the Father, we shape our values and worldview based on God’s plan found in His Word. We must understand and abide in the truth of who we “are” in His Kingdom if we expect to grow. Our spiritual roots take us deep and wide to find the source of connection and strength and distribute it throughout the other parts of our lives. May we seek to be grounded in God and in turn be built-up to be established in the faith.
Image Bearers of God
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
A.W. Tozer
2.1 - Write at least 3 things that come to your mind when you think about God.
2.2 - What do you think it means to bear the image of God?
We should act the way Jesus does. We should outwardly express a level of His divine qualities i.e. the fruit of the Spirit and living sacrificially.
Read the passages below a couple of times and answer the following questions.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Psalm 145:2-9
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
John 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth
2.3 - What are your initial thoughts as you read these passages?
We are created to be like God in some ways. But God and His name and His glory should be praised above all. His glory and his value is other and is beyond anything we should seek for our own. God acts for the truth and this is displaying Himself rightly to the world. When Jesus came, he was the correct physical representation of God walking on this planet.
2.4 - How do these passages speak to your identity with God?
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus came so that we can right display the image of God. We must receive Him as Savior and Lord. God has held back His judgement because of His love for us. We are now adopted Children in HIs family through faith in Jesus.
2.5 - Write down as many implications as you can think of, knowing you are a child of God.
He loves me. He will not leave me alone. He fights for me. He knows what is best for me. I should listen to Him and obey Him. I should trust Him with all that I have. His ways are the best ways because I am in His family.
“Loving God” We desire to BE God’s satisfied children. We glorify Him by knowing and enjoying Him.
If there is one thing that all people – religious or irreligious – have in common, it is that everyone is searching for that one thing that will satisfy them permanently. It’s as if every person is a puzzle with one vitally important missing piece. The void people feel as a result of that missing piece triggers a life-long search for that elusive something. Sometimes we describe it as happiness, meaning, significance, hope, or fulfillment. But people seldom discover it though they look for it in a variety of life’s experiences, pleasures, or relationships. In fact, some people despair of ever finding it and choose instead not to go on living.
What is that missing piece? What can truly satisfy? What are people really searching for?
The answer is glory. People may or may not be familiar with the word, but glory is the missing piece that will bring their search to an end.
What is glory? Check a thesaurus for synonyms and you’ll find “renown”, “fame”, “splendor”, “magnificence”, “grandeur”, and “brilliance”. In Churches, when the word glory is used, it is most often used in reference to the glory of God, meaning God’s awesome majesty. Or sometimes Christians talk about giving glory to God, that is, to acknowledge his majesty in worship. But the Bible speaks of glory in a third way, and that is the subject we are addressing here; it is the glory from God, the glory that God satisfies people with by bestowing it upon them.
Where is that glory now?—lost. The story of glory is that God designed humanity to be made complete with the crowning touch of his glory. Psalm 8:5 says that God “...crowned him [e.g. humanity] with glory and honor.” Yet, the first generation of people forfeited that glory by trying to establish their own glory, independent of God’s gift. The apostle Paul writes that although the earliest people knew God, “...they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him...although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:21 – 23)
Thus, the all-important crowning piece is missing, and we are all burdened with an instinctive search for that unknown quantity that will satisfy us. But because the search is unnatural (we were not designed to be without glory from God), people go astray into counterfeit, temporary glories whose satisfaction is short-lived at best, and destructive at worst. We live with an addiction to praise, power, and pleasure as we go from toy to toy, fix to fix, and relationship to relationship.
The sobering truth is that glory is lost and it is the only thing that will satisfy. Yet God has not left humanity without hope. Jesus called this hope the Gospel; it is the good news that glory can be rediscovered. And Paul tells us how we come to a satisfying end to our search; it is through “...Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
--Randy Pope, Life on Life Missional Discipleship--
Jesus, the Hope for Our Image
There is no other event in history more confusing at first look than the death of Jesus. He was a sinless man that was falsely charged by a mob, tortured, and crucified as a criminal. How does this make any sense? But what if there is a greater mission? What if all this injustice was actually reallocated justice? What if God wanted to display His glory, His value, His love, so brightly, so that the whole world could understand how much God wants to pursue sinful people, and how they could know and enjoy Him? So Jesus became the bridge between sinful man and perfect God. Man gets to enjoy a relationship with His Creator, and God is known as the Sacrificial Hero who offers salvation to all who receive it.
To Image
In God’s great design, He decided to make humans BE His image-bearers. And what does this mean? Well, it could mean we have abilities that display God that no other thing in creation has, like Justice, or Love and Mercy, or Art and Creativity. But I think John Piper best states it when he says that we were made “to image”. Images are made to image rightly. The statue of the great leader in town is to be an image to point us to the life and impact of that man or woman. God created us in his image so that we would display, reflect, and communicate who He is, how great He is, and what He is like.
Reflecting Like a Mirror
Say the glory of God was straight up above us, yet people rarely looked up to see Him. So, He designed humans to be mirrors set at a 45-degree angle so that when people see other people, they actually see God. He is a God of endless power, love, and purpose. He made man to display Himself to the world for the world to know Him and glorify Him. Some choose to not live out this purpose and desire to display their own glory.
God’s Glory, Man’s Satisfaction
There is a joy in fulfilling one’s purpose. God’s glory is the “weight” of all His attributes. And as God’s chosen children live out their lives enjoying God and following the ways of Jesus, they become image-bearers, mirrors, pointers to God for others. He has endless love and grace for everyone who repents and believes, and the adopted children can freely go and bring others to their Father. This is why at Neighborhood Church we are about loving God and being His satisfied children.
2.6 - In which relationships/environments are you not bearing God’s image well?
I do not bear with my family well at times. I do need to find a balance of leading well with the kids and Rivers. Also, there are many strangers that I have not taken the time to introduce myself and build relationships with. I have not sought out hard people the way that I have needed to lately.
2.7 - How would those relationships/environments change if you reflected Jesus more in them?
They would see a sold out brother in Christ who is living for the Kingdom of God everyday in the power of the Holy Spirit. I would be loving and kind and forward thinking and planning more to do more for the Kingdom of God.
2.8 - This week, what do you need to trust, think, or do to grow in your identity in this area? Write at least 2 ideas.
I need to wake up and pray right away. Continue to pray the Lord's Prayer and be guided by the truths found in it. I want to live for the Kingdom of God daily and I need to trust that God has plans each day that will bring Him the most Glory and me the most satisfaction. Lord help me.
Pray and ask God to do this in your life as you finish this session.
End of Session #2
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